


Defining Legacy

by covertius



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Captive Prince Month, Far Future Fic, Ficlet, Future Fic, Gen, Identity, Post-Canon, content warning: offscreen character death of old age, king's meet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-13 03:10:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14740922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/covertius/pseuds/covertius
Summary: In the days following King Damianos's death, a committee meets in the Akielon part of New Artes to decide on his statue for the King's Meet.Written for the prompt Identity for Captive Prince month 2018.Special thanks to L_C_Weary, whose interesting take on identity in their story The King of Vere sparked the inspiration for this story.





	Defining Legacy

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The King of Vere](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14738276) by [L_C_Weary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/L_C_Weary/pseuds/L_C_Weary). 



"Damianos the Uniter," said the Kyros of Dice, "He brought us unity with Vere and reformed the Artesian Empire.  That is what future generations will remember him for."

Around the long table sat a small mixed group with Akielon nobles; the men in charge of the Kingsmeet; historians, archivists, and scribes; and artists, sculptors, and stonemasons.  They were there to decide on the statue Damianos would be given among his fathers, and therefore the legacy that would be handed down from him.  Around the table went a murmur of tepid agreement until Lady Batea said,

"That's very close to the title that was given to Theomedes-Exalted for re-unifying the kyroi into one nation.  He deserves a unique identity, not a rehash of his father."

"There has never been anything in our nation's history like the love between our two Kings," put in one of the scribes, "Perhaps that could be honored in some way."

The Kyros of Dice scoffed audibly.

"It overcame the greatest enmity to move borders and join nations," the scribe argued, "Songs were being written about it from the first year of their reign and the bards are continuing to make new ones.  We are meant to decide what he will be remembered for, but it is already this."

"Ah yes, the perfect thing to inspire future princes to greatness.  King Damianos, _the lover._ "

"We need not make it ridiculous," suggested one of the younger sons of the Kyros of Kesus, "Damianos the Tender-hearted, perhaps.  Or the Great-hearted.  Strong-hearted."

"He certainly had a great heart for his people as well."

"No, no, no," said Commander Pollux, "We are talking about a man who was never defeated on the field of battle.  Damianos the Warrior!  It would be an insult to call him anything else."

"Do you remember the fight against the warrior from Thrace -"

"Ten years younger than the King and one of the few men larger -"

"Twenty minutes of hard grappling - "

"And the look on his face when the King brought him to his knees!"

Around the table, the committee became in danger of losing sight of what they had come here to do.  Damianos's hair had long silvered before the first of the younger warriors had achieved a tourney victory against him, and for many years afterward it had remained a rare feat that the greatest of warriors treasured - but among those old enough to have seen him in his youth, faster and stronger and more skilled than any man alive, his exploits had already become legend approaching the realm of myth.

"His martial skill was unparalleled, but he led us to war too infrequently for that to be his identity," said the Kyros of Dice

"Damianos, the Peace-maker, perhaps?" suggested one of the artists, "One hand on the hilt of his sword, the other extended in friendship?"  He was sketching the rough outline of a statue out on the parchment beneath his hand as he spoke, and this achieved a stronger show of support, a complicated epithet for a complicated man. 

Lady Batea had her doubts.  "Damianos was a man who did not make war lightly, but when it came to avoiding it, his consort's schemes had, perhaps, more to do with it than he did."

"King Damianos the Emancipator," said the oldest of the archivists, who had been sitting quietly until now.  "He ended slavery, and brought freedom to all Akielons.  That is what future generations should think of first, when they think of him.  That is who he was."

He spoke quietly and firmly.  The younger people at the table began to do the math, wondering if he was old enough to have been there - to have watched men and women being traded like property, to see their cuffs struck off.

"Damianos standing with his arms spread above him, breaking a chain between his two fists ..." said one of the sculptors with excitement.

"Yes!  With the one cuff he always kept on him in prominent display -"

"And you could do such intriguing things with the broken links looking like they were just about to fall away, if you worked the marble right - how to get that effect -"

"You could make him a little younger, couldn't you?" asked one of the older men, "Really show his strength in the chest and the arms he used to have."

"Yes, there are portraits, and-"

"What do you think of a link or two of chain dangling freely from the cuff, to show how he had first regained freedom himself?  I know they weren't really there, but the imagery -"

"Surely artistic license-"

"We agreed that each of the contenders would submit a set of sketches and models once the theme was chosen," the Kyros of Dice spoke over everyone, "Are we agreed on this identifier for King Damianos?"

With a show of hands, the vote carried easily.

"Wonderful!  We can leave these good tradesmen to their work and adjourn early."

"Just one thing, sir," said a female sculptor, "When we are creating our designs, will we need to leave room for another statue?"

"What?"

"For King Laurent, when the time comes.  Should we leave room for him, or will he be getting his own plinth?"

"Are we giving King Laurent a statue in the Kingsmeet?" asked the head of its upkeep.

The table gave out a surprised chorus of equally certain (and equally numbered) yeses and nos.  They looked at each other in astonishment.

"Oh fuck." said Commander Pollux.

The younger son of the Kyros of Kesus called over a servant.  "Send for another casket of wine," he said, "We are going to be here a while."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumbler @covertius-fic, come say hi!


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